Dubai Women's College hosts Women in IT-Building Careers Conference

The event is a forum for IT students to meet key industry players and discuss employment prospects and current topics in the industry including Emiratisation. The conference also exposes students to the realities of working in the IT industry including information on employment opportunities, entrepreneurship and job search strategies.

Ms. Nadia Al Saeed, Director of the Dead Sea Institute and former Minister of Information and Communications and Technology in Jordan, delivered the keynote address to students from DWC and other HCT College's eager to learn more about the IT industry and employment opportunities. 'Take control of your career, it is all up to you,' she advised the audience. 'Today's workforce requires people to be able to compete on a global level and information is changing at a very rapid pace, the information obtained in an IT degree today is obsolete in four years, you must seek continual training and life long learning to be a success.' Other keys to building a successful career in the industry include; (1) moving out of your comfort zone, (2) having a positive attitude, (3) having strong soft skills and (4) possessing strong belief in yourself.

In addition to the keynote presentation, highlights included a Partner Presentation by Mr. Vimal Sethi, Developer and Platform Group Manager, Microsoft Gulf and presentation on IT Graduate Recruitment Strategy by Ms. Jyothi Ganglani, IT Faculty, DWC. Mr. Sethi from Microsoft, talked about two academic initiatives that Microsoft is involved with; one is the Imagine Cup, a global IT student competition, which encourages innovation in leveraging IT for a better quality of life. The second initiative is the recently launched .net Club Program, which was created to help students and faculty keep abreast of industry changes and to see new technology before it is officially launched.

Industry experts from Emirates Airlines, HSBC, Al Futtaim and Jumeirah International participated in a panel discussion on Employment Opportunities in the Private Sector. Dr. Behjat Al-Yousef, DWC IT Supervisor, gave a conference overview session followed by breakout sessions on Job Hunting, the Impact of Outsourcing on the UAE IT Sector, Entrepreneurship and Internet Security and Threats.

'This second annual conference is an excellent opportunity for our industry partners to visit our campus and share their expectations with their future employees- DWC students,' stated Dr. Howard Reed, Director, DWC. 'This event also gives employers a first hand look at the types of skills and knowledge our students have acquired, resulting in work placement, job offers and facilitation of the Emiratisation process.'

The event was sponsored by Dubal, Dubai E-Government and Microsoft.